


Strength in Fragility

by KassandraScarlett



Series: Female Tony Stark Works [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Female Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-05-29 20:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15081503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassandraScarlett/pseuds/KassandraScarlett
Summary: What if Rhodey hadn't been the one injured in Leipzig? What if his best friend had taken the hit instead?





	1. The Fall

  It was chaos. Just the way any battle was. Only this wasn't just any battle. This was a fight between two parts of what was supposed to be a team, between two sets of people who were supposed to be friends and have each other's backs.

  "Widow, what're you doing?" Toni could be heard yelling in frustration over the comms. Rhodey, helping her take out the now-giant man, sneaked a look at the hangar and cursed when he saw Black Widow standing over a pained, vibranium-clad figure and behind her, the jet taking off.

  "Focus, Toni," he barked. "We'll deal with it later." Right now, they had to deal with rounding up the remaining ones. The tiny/giant man was passed out, with the Spider kid keeping an eye on him. Hawkeye was tied up somewhere, courtesy of the Black Panther. Vision had the Witch in his arms. That left...

  "Falcon is still in the air, Toni," he reminded and, moving perfectly in sync, the two armoured figures banked towards each other, flying right behind their target. "Vision," he called. "Aim for the wings and turn the guy into a glider." It should have been a perfect hit. Rhodey hadn't counted on Vision's aim being off by a minuscule amount, or on Wilson rolling over to escape the blast. His instincts kicked in and he veered off, narrowly escaping the heated beam of pure energy. A second of relief filled him. Then...

  "Toni!" He shouted, panic overcoming him. She'd been hit, the core circuits of the suit had fried, she was falling. She was falling, not flying, and it was suddenly New York all over again, when he'd been watching helplessly on a television screen.

  Only now, there was no Hulk to catch her and he could hear her scared voice in his ears, saying, "The suit's dead, it's dead weight," and he was right there and, god dammit, why was he just _hovering_? With a burst of the propulsion, he raced against Toni's descent, his HUD calculating the estimates. He was vaguely aware of Wilson flying in from the opposite direction as well, but all he could focus on was the Iron Woman armour plummeting down and-

  A cloud of dust rose around the small crater and Rhodey screamed, "TONI!"

  He landed beside her and stumbled over to her side, FRIDAY anticipating his order and lifting away the face plates of both armours.

  "Toni? Toni, answer me, come on, just wake up, please," he muttered frantically, his fingers digging under the neck of her suit to find her pulse. Her face was ashen, there was blood trickling from her nose and Rhodey knew enough medical to know that was a bad sign. But at least, her eyes were closed, so that meant she wasn't... She was still...

  " _Pulse detected, Colonel_ ," an Irish accented voice spoke in his ear. " _I've already notified the UN. Medical assistance is on its way. Seven minutes_." Was that relief mixed with worry in the AI's voice?

  "Rhodes." Sam Wilson had landed a few feet away and Rhodey wasn't about to listen to him. "Listen, man, I'm really sorry, I wasn't-"

  A repulsor beam to the chest shut him up. Rhodey gathered Toni's still form in his arms, a difficult task in both their armours, and, pressing his forehead to her's, breathed harshly through his nose, trying to find the familiar scent of motor oil and perfume from under the smell of the blood.

  He thought of what Toni had said to them on the jet, en route to Leipzig: " _Don't aim to kill or heavily injure. Just maim lightly if you have to, enough so we can bring them in. Remember, they aren't actually enemies, just our very dangerous, misunderstanding and occasionally galactically stupid friends. They're not looking to hurt us, and we can't hurt them either_." Oh how wrong she'd been. In the end, only they had pulled their punches and ended up getting their asses kicked, with Toni taking the brunt of it all.

  "You're gonna be okay, darling. You have to be, please Toni!" He whispered. Because, he didn't know what he would do if she left him and he wasn't too eager to find out. He didn't think he'd like the answer.


	2. Betrayal Never Ends Well

  The incessant beeping noise was grating on Rhodey's nerves, making him want to run screaming from the room. But, Toni was in an induced coma, hooked up to several machines and a breathing tube. The prognosis was still running around in his head: frayed thoracic nerves, several lacerations and cracks across T-6 to T-10, multiple contusions, paraplegia.

  _Paraplegia_. The word caused bile to rise up in his throat and he pushed it back down with difficulty, along with all the murderous rage.

  "Rhodey." He looked up to see Pepper standing at the door, the tip of her nose red and her eyes watery. "Agent Romanoff wants to talk to you," she says stiffly, not bothering to hide the utter contempt in her voice. Rhodey nodded and stood up, with a questioning look, to which Pepper nodded and said, "I'm not leaving her alone." 

  With a reluctant glance at the prone figure on the bed, he stepped out, FRIDAY in his ear, informing him of her location.

  He found her on the balcony, looking out at the open fields with stoic poise. "How is she?" She asked softly.

  "Paralyzed, though I don't see why it should matter to you," Rhodey answered. 

  Romanoff turned to look at him, ice in her pale green eyes. "I did what I had to-" 

  "You let them go, Romanova," he cut in, watching her flinch at her proper name.

  "Steve wasn't going to stop," she argued. "We've been playing this the wrong way from the very beginning. This was the only way to make sure nobody else got hurt." 

  "Not to mention how hard it seems to be to shake off the whole ' _double agent_ ' thing, right?" Rhodey replied, scathingly. The redhead actually looked hurt at that, but Rhodey was starting to feel her every move was a calculated step. 

  "Are you capable," she began, low and furious. "Of being objective and looking at this without letting your affections get in the way for one second? You're just as bad as Stark and her ego." 

  Rhodey didn't bother answering that, but noted the use of Toni's last name. "T'challa told Ross about what you did," he said instead. "They're coming after you, Romanoff."

  Romanoff gave a hollow smirk. "I'm not the one who needs to watch my back," she said. "Make sure to tell Toni that."

  Rhodey saw red. He'd been thinking of letting her go, giving her a fair chance of escape. But the flippant, disregarding way she spoke of his sister irked and when she walked away, he tapped on his watch, that Toni had custom-made for him and alerted FRIDAY. "Lockdown all the exits, FRI," he ordered. "Inform the guards of where she is and send two suits to help them if needed. Romanoff doesn't leave this building without her hands cuffed, got it?"

  " _Got it, Colonel_ ," the AI affirmed. " _I do have something I need to show you, sir."_

  "Hit me," he prompted and an image of a man propped up in a bathtub came up from the hologram screen of the watch.

 

* * *

  


  "Ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Rhodes! The government lapdog of the Futurist!" Barton's voice rang loud and clear from the cage and Rhodey felt a little relief that Toni wasn't there to hear it. 

  "Better than being the Captain's pet," he answered lightly. He was moving along the cages, wanting to at least be sure they were treated fairly. He shuddered when he saw Wanda had a straitjacket on.

  "Hank Pym said, never to trust a Stark," the new guy said. 

  Rhodey scoffed. "Of course he did," he chuckled derisively, before coming to a stop in front of the the prisoner. 

  "How is Toni doing?" Sam asked, sounding scared of the answer. 

  "We're flying her to Columbia Medical soon, so..." He tried to keep the pain in his voice at bay, but he wasn't so successful. But he had a job to do.

  Holding up his watch and jamming the audio signal of the room Rhodey brought up the image of the man originally intended as Barnes' psychologist. He didn't need to explain a lot. Sam understood the implications and agreed that Steve and Barnes would both need help. "But just promise me one thing," he pleaded, after he told him about Siberia. "Promise you'll go alone, just you. And as a friend."

  "Alone-not a problem, sure," Rhodey agreed. "But as a _friend_?" He fixed Sam with a glare. "Your Captain's idiotic decisions are what landed my best friend, my sister, in a coma and with no guarantee of ever being able to walk again. That's not to mention the depression she'll fall into when she realizes the extent of her injuries. You're a war veteran, Wilson," he reminded. "You know how how bad the mental health can be affected. So, I'll go as an ally and a teammate, but that's it. Friend? Forget it."

  Without giving him, or anybody, a chance to counter his words, Rhodey released the jamming signal and walked out, avoiding Ross with a dexterity that would have made Toni proud. Natasha had been arrested, according to FRIDAY. She'd fought back against the guards, of course, but even the Black Widow was no match for two suits of Iron Woman armour.

  Now, to Siberia. War Machine was nowhere near as sophisticated as Iron Woman, but it was built for strength and durability. It would be fine against a team of super-soldiers.


	3. Liar, Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey finds out.

  There was a tense silence as Rhodey looked carefully around the room, at the five dead bodies, still chained upright in their glass prisons. Five dead Winter Soldiers.

  "There's a hint of green in the blue of your eyes," Zemo whispered from behind his glass window. "How nice to find a physical manifestation of all your hidden faults."

  Rogers was glaring at Zemo, Barnes was impassive, and Rhodey was suddenly fighting the urge to _get_. The _hell_. _Out_  of here. He couldn't explain it, but it grew stronger as one of the dormant computers in the middle of the room flickered to life with a video playing. It seemed to be traffic camera footage of a lonely road at night. Nothing but a single car driving along. Oh, and a motorbike. Then, the bike deliberately crashed into the car, swerving to escape the debris. The rider swung off the vehicle when the car stopped spinning, with broken windows and smashed in sides and front. He walked over to it and stared blankly at the driver.

  Rhodey felt something like denial and heartbreak spreading through him when he recognised the passengers and the road. But, he couldn't look away, only watch in silent horror as the man grabbed the back of Howard Stark's head, ignoring his pleas to save his wife, and brutally bashed it into the steering wheel three times, leaving nothing but a bloody mess on his face. Beside him, Rhodey could see Maria Stark, her expression showing both fear and acceptance, as she reached out a trembling hand to touch her dead husband. The killer strode around the car to the other side. Rhodey found himself choking when a hand wrapped around Maria's throat, sweet, loving Maria, and held on relentlessly. Then as Toni's mother suffocated, the murderer looked up at the camera and Rhodey felt his blood freeze.

  The clip ended and there was silence, Rogers and Barnes on either side of him, both waiting for his verdict. Even FRIDAY was quiet in his ear.

  "Did you know?"

  Rogers didn't hesitate. "Yes," he answered calmly.

  "Does Toni know?"

  This time, there was a second of apprehension. "Rhodey, I didn't want..."

  "Don't _bullshit_  me, Rogers," he barked. " _Does Toni know_?"

  The brief silence before the whispered, "No," told him all that he needed to know. Rage flooded through him and he snapped the faceplate shut. Toni didn't know. This fucker had known the truth for god knows how long and he hadn't told his teammate, his friend, that her parents had been murdered. Captain fucking America, who lectured about being transparent with your team and working together. He wanted to tear Barnes apart. Even more so, he wanted to make Rogers suffer.

  But, Rhodey wasn't stupid. He couldn't take on both at the same time. Well, at least he didn't have any guilt about doing what he'd intended to do in the first place.

  With FRIDAY relaying a short message, Rhodey, without warning, fired up the suit and took off, shouts of bewilderment and panic _("He'll alert the authorities!" "We have to get him to just LISTEN to us!")_ echoing as he raced along the narrow corridors, struggling to bank the right corners, but never slowing down. He burst out with a quick signal of warning, then turned around in time to see the two super soldiers follow him, until they stopped and stared at the numerous soldiers surrounding the bunker. Barnes didn't miss the snipers placed on the outcropping rocks trained on him.

  "Your call, Captain," Rhodey said, his voice amplified. "Turn yourself in quietly or get yourself killed."

  "Rhodes, you can't-"

  "Don't you fucking preach to me what I can or can't," Rhodey snarled. "Not when you can't take your own advice. You're lucky Toni's not here, or neither of you would have left this facility alive. The only reason you are is because my suit isn't good for close combat." There was no remorse in his voice to give away the lie: Toni wouldn't have killed them, capable of it though she was. Hurt them, attacked viciously, sure, but not killed.

  Rogers opened his mouth, presumably to deal out some more shit, and Rhodey wanted to gag and bind him, but Barnes spoke up. "Stand down, Steve."

  "Buck?" Rogers looked betrayed and confused at the same time.

  "It's over, Stevie, we shouldn't have run in the first place," he reasoned, his eyes sad but resigned. "There's no way around it, we've done a lot of damage. Stark might still be able to help me, if she's willing. The papers said she has some kind of tech." He took a short breath. "It's over," he repeated, firm.

  He took a step forward and Rhodey, still tense, gestured for one of the uniformed men to come forward. With shaking hands, but a stubborn expression, the young man clapped a set of handcuffs on Barnes and turned to Rogers. Rogers shifted his gaze to Rhodey, then to Barnes. When the assassin refused to meet his gaze, his shoulders slumped, the fight gone, and stepped forward as well, allowing himself to be cuffed, before walking with Barnes and the soldiers to the jet.

  But Rhodey had one thing left to ask. "Do you even remember them?"

  Barnes paused and averted his gaze. "I remember all of them," he whispered, his face and voice haunted.

  Rhodey nodded once, the still-boiling rage inside him cooling a bit at the admission. He watched them climb in board, politely responded when the commander thanked him for being thinking ahead and alerting the Siberian government before going in and got prepared to fly behind, not worried about containment, at least. Those handcuffs had been designed by Toni to hold Loki; they weren't going to be beaten by a hundred year-old super soldier.

  No, Rhodey was more worried about Toni. She'd trusted Rogers with all her being, had considered him a friend. For Toni, that meant a lot. For a brief moment, Rhodey entertained the possibility that he might have gotten hit by Vision's laser instead. Then Toni would have come to Siberia, he knew she was would have. And he knew she wouldn't have gotten the authorities; she would have come as a ' _friend_ ', just as Wilson had asked.

  Rogers would have killed her, or at least, come very close to it. But was paraplegia a reasonable alternative for someone like Toni, who was constantly moving, working, creating? Was it selfish to be glad that Toni would never walk again, as long as she was alive and breathing?

  Rhodey shuddered. He didn't want to think about the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might have seemed a little anti-climactic, but I genuinely think Rhodey would have worked with through the proper channels and he wouldn't have lost his cool the way Toni did.  
> Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to write a follow-up for Toni finding out about everything. You can use your imagination, maybe.  
> Also, if you have any ideas for more fem!Tony, please tell me in the comments. I don't write Steve/Tony, and I'm very firmly team Iron Man, anything else is fair game.

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr: bad-days-and-beautiful-nights


End file.
